Of the seven people who contributed to the article, four emphasized the need for scientists to learn non-scientific professional and leadership skills, the sort that are not often seen in a traditional academic-research environment. Atsushi Sunami, one of the contributors, says that his Tokyo-based institute is setting up faculty cross-appointments with industry, largely to help their trainees get hands-on non-academic experience. They’d like their graduates to be desirable to companies, not just in a faculty search.

This is … quite a change from when I was in grad school, when anything other than a faculty position was seen as a failure. So, I asked one of my interns, who is applying to grad schools this year. She says that industry training is one of the things she is specifically looking for in her grad program. A professor at one school said they don’t have a formal training program, but are developing one because almost all of the desirable students are asking about it!

Some schools already have a grad-student internship program in place. As the UC Berkeley site (https://career.berkeley.edu/PhDs/PhDintern) says, “Not only are internships valuable in terms of skill development, another key advantage is that you can gain an insider perspective of the profession. This kind of exposure to the field can make the difference between being regarded as a viable candidate, as opposed to an enthusiastic, yet relatively uninformed applicant.”

Oh, heck yes. Important learning opportunities in industry occur semi-randomly, and you need to be around when they happen. My company’s interns are deeply involved with helping customers who have problems, or helping to build a machine that is going to be shipped to customers instead of graded by their professors. I don’t create anything like a lesson plan for them: we just work and let the teachable moments come when they will. It’s a very different form of work than basic science is, and I think it’s better learned by the immersion method.

Since you’re already here on Bio Careers, it’s not hard to find internship positions to apply to: there are quite a few posted on the site right now. There are also several of my fellow bloggers who have written about getting internships themselves, and I encourage you to read their stories. But there’s a sticky question you’re going to have to resolve, and that’s funding.

If you are a graduate student on a stipend, your college and/or your PI is paying you to be there. If you’re on an RA, your boss is allocating grant money to your support, and trust me, the granting agency is going to want to see evidence of forward progress each year of the grant.

It may be possible to “stop the clock” on your benchwork for a semester, especially if the internship is paid and you can forego your stipend as well, but you should be prepared to explain why your industry experience will also make you more productive when you return. Even if you are a TA, you have to make sure your classes and office hours are covered, and you have to make sure you stay closely tied to your department so they don’t decide to give the teaching post to someone else the next semester. If it were me, I would actually write up a proposal explaining how the internship will be beneficial for your program and your lab.

If you’re a postdoc, the only person you really have to convince is your PI. If you are approaching the end of the grant that funds you, and your funding agency allows no-cost extensions, you may be able to stretch out your postdoc a bit by doing it part-time while you intern somewhere else. Depending on the exact nature of the research you’re doing, that might even be a great deal for your PI. However, it won’t work in all situations, and it’s not really fair to be annoyed with a PI if he or she would rather have someone who’s laser-focused on the work in the lab. You may have to turn down some career options in order to exploit others.

Is it worth it? I think so, even if you try industry and decide it’s not for you. As I’ve written before, I was surprised at how good a match industry settings are for someone with my personality. It’s worth at least finding that out about yourself, and you will also bring back some new perspectives that may influence your research. Just make sure you do it when it can be part of your larger career plan, rather than a desperation move when you can’t find anything else. (And good luck!)